This invention relates to apparatus for collecting and storing used metallic containers and, more particularly, machines for collecting, crushing and storing used aluminum beverage cans in recycling, and for dispensing tokens in exchange for containers collected.
With the increasing emphasis in recent years on energy conservation, the recycling of metallic containers such as beverage cans has become an important factor in the conservation effort. More specifically, the recycling of aluminum cans has proven to be remarkably efficient in energy saving. Yet only a fraction of the tool annual production of aluminum beverage cans is recovered after use, with the remainder being discarded. This tremendous waste, to date, has been largely due to the lack of an efficient and economically feasible unit recovery system. Several machines have been developed in the prior art for encouraging the recovery and recycling of metallic containers. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,857,334 and 3,907,087 disclose apparatus for crushing metallic containers and discharging refund coins or tokens in exchange therefor. U.S. Pat. No. RE 27,643 describes a process and apparatus for collection of metal containers in which tokens are automatically dispensed for the containers collected. In general, the prior art machines induct any type of inserted container, and then utilize some type of sensing means for differentiating between those containers for which a token is to be dispensed and those containers for which no payment is to be made. For example, Arp, U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,334 includes control means for issuing a token only when cans of a given size, weight and design are crushed in the machine. Myers, U.S. Pat. No. RE 27,643 discloses a mechanism which utilizes a plurality of bar magnets for separating cans formed of magnetic material from non-magnetic cans.
Several of the prior art apparatus are designed to take advantage of the force of gravity in feeding the metallic containers into the apparatus. This type of feeding mechanism has an inherent drawback in that the containers must be sufficiently close to their original shape to roll down an inclined surface. As a result, a large majority of containers which have been totally or partially crushed by the user, cannot be fed into such machines efficiently. In addition, the sensing or differentiating mechanisms of the prior art machines do not appear to be adaptable to operation on partially or fully crushed containers of different sizes.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved container collection apparatus which is capable of readily accepting containers in their originally manufactured shape, or containers which have been manually deformed by consumers.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a container collection machine with a sensing mechanism which can readily detect the presence of aluminum containers of varying sizes, and can do so prior to accepting the inserted container into the interior of the machine.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved container collection apparatus with a mechanism for detecting the presence of aluminum containers which have been deformed from their originally manufactured shape.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide an improved method of collecting and storing empty aluminum containers and issuing a token therefor.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.